The Namesake is the title of the last movie I’ve seen. Back in August, when my summer vacation had just begun, I went to Barcelona for a few days. I have friends living there and I stopped by before going to La Pineda (the place where my family has a flat). It was nice to spend some time with Mertxe, Idoia, Mónica, Yon and Iván. Mertxe and I have known each other since I was in Primary School, we also went to the same High School and majored in Communication. We have remained friends all this time and even though among all these years there has been a lapse of time in which we didn’t know what each of us was doing, for the last couple of years we’ve become quite close.

Anyway, while I was visiting them in Barcelona, and after having dinner at an Italian restaurant, we saw this huge sign in the middle of the street announcing an upcoming Bollywood show in the city. When we got to her place at around 2.30am, and after considering the possibility of attending the show, she mentioned having seen a movie called El buen nombre (The namesake in Spanish). She told it was a really good film and she suggested that I saw it.

I’ve been a little busy these days, but I finally got to see the movie yesterday evening and what can I say, it was one the best films I’ve seen in the last couple of years.

The Namesake talks about the importance of chosing the right name to a newborn child and how a wrong choice may affect the child in the future. The movie is set in the late 70’s. After two families arrange a wedding for their son and daughter, the couple moves to New York to “live the American dream”.

Soon after getting married, Ashima gets pregnant and had a child. To be able to leave the hospital, she needs to have the kid named, but according to the Indian tradition he has to wait until his Grandma sends a letter with his good-name. In the mean time, his father decides to name the child Gogol to honor his favorite writer.

Gogol is the last name of a Russian writer that commited suicide and that facts affects the child’s teenage years.

Anyway, I don’t want to reveal any more details about the movie just in case you decide to see it. All I can say is a magnificent film, brought tears to my eyes and made me discover a new, talented and good looking actor. Now, I might reconsider what I said about Richard Gere on my previous post!

Gogol is played by a guy called Kalpen, though he’s changed his name to Kal Penn to fit better in the American society. I’ve been reading some about his biography and according to wikipedia and other sources, he’s the first American-Indian person to succeed in Hollywood. So, congrats to him! Truth is, I found his performance to be stellar and he’s definitely easy on the eye. I hope he gets far in the business, that would mean I’d get to see him in more movies.

And just as good as the cast is the soundtrack. The music plays such an important role all throughout the movie. One of these days, whenever I go to San Sebastian I’ll try to buy the cd.

And last but not least, after seeing the movie, I have this increasing desire of going to Agra to see the Taj-Mahal. It is shown in the movie, from different angles and inside of it and all I can say is no wonder why it has been chosen one of the 7 wonders of the world. And to think this a construction of love… Someday, hopefully, I’ll stand there.

Everyone’s talking about her these days. DJ’s will play her latest single Umbrella over and over again on the radio stations, but truth is Rihanna has been there for a while now. I’ve known about her music for about a year now. My sister is really into r&b music and well, it’s a music genre I like myself. So, one day, I was trying to fix her mp4 player and started listening to a song called Unfaithful. I really liked her voice and how harsh the song was. Ever since that day, I’ve been listening to some of her songs, she has some good stuff. So here’s, Rihanna and another song that’s not so popular that I particularly like.

And let’s take that umbrella (red umbrella for Faith Hill) and shelter from the storms that seem to be approaching.

Here’s a link to read about this girl from Barbados: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rihanna

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GSHHEMO6

San Sebastian does NOT need a festival to look fabulous (sorry, I’m on a Sexy & The City mood today). To this day and after all the cities I’ve been to, San Sebastian still remains up on my list of favorite destinations. There’s nothing like walking the walk of La Concha or looking at the horizon when the sun starts to go down. I’ll never get tired of San Sebastian. For almost two weeks, the capital city of Gipuzkoa, has become the capital of cinema. The best (and worst) movies are shown in the city. And some of the best Hollywood stars come to visit us in San Sebastian.

I remember standing next to Dennis Hopper and America Ferrera (when she still wasn’t known as Ugly Betty). Taking pictures to Charlize Theron, Mark Whalberg, Ewan McGreggor and Oliver Stone. I also remember spending BILLIONS of hours sitting in front of the Maria Cristina Hotel (5 star hotel in the city) with Jon and Aitor to get a darn autograph and Marisa Paredes refusing to sign my piece of paper…

I recall watching 4 to 6 movies a day when I was a member of the Youth jury at the festival. And not going to the movies in a year after that experience too!

San Sebastian is looking especially glamorous these days. And it will look even better when Mr. Richard Gere gets out of the black Mercedes and walks the red carpet. God, I’ve never been this excited about a Hollywood star coming to San Sebastian. I know it may sound like a cliché, but if I were allowed ONE infidelity in my life I would probably pick him. And there would probably not be sex involved, I would just enjoy having dinner with him, going ontop of the Empire State building. All classy.
That’s how I’ve always pictured him, as a classy man. That’s probably how the industry has pictured him. But darn it, he gets better with age! I don’t what buddhism has done to him, but even with grey hair he looks so darn attractive. He smiles and I melt. And don’t us women, dream of being rescued by a Knight like him? With a red rose in his hand and saying, “you’re all I need to be happy”. Of course, then you wake up and realize life is no fairy-tale.

I have never considered myself to be a fan of his, but I’ve seen Pretty Woman a hundred times, I’ve melted seeing him dance on Shall We Dance and I’ve felt pitty for him on Unfaithful. He’s a great actor.

I’ll see if I can go to San Sebastian this weekend and have a picture taken with (of) him.

Toronto skyline

I have finally found some spare time to upload some of the pictures from my trip to Canada. I hope you like them! I’m busy these days so I can’t update the website as much as I’d love to, but whenever I get the chance I will drop some lines again

I’ve come to realize that you sometimes need to be slapped on the face to open your eyes and wake up. I have finally opened mine and I have seen what I’ve been avoiding to see all this time. It’s time to turn the page, I deserve someone better, way better. Because, just like grandma used to say to me, I’m a treasure. And I do NOT like writing about such personal things, but I’ve never been this hurt and wounded in my life before, and this seems to be my only way to let this out. Here’s a song that clearly explains how I feel right this minute.

Unsaveable - Faith Hill

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=QZL6TU4L
Love
So cruel
Yeah that’s all that I got from you
Tell me what in the world could I do
But leave
After all that you’ve done to me
Now it’s so easy to say I’m over you

‘Cause baby I cried a little too hard
A little too long
What I thought was right
Was way too wrong
And too far gone
I can’t bring back the love
There just ain’t enough
Available,impossible,unsaveable

Here
You come
Tryin’ to make up for what you’ve done
It’s too late to say you’re sorry now
Now it’s your turn
You can’t cross that bridge you burned
You’re on your own when will you learn

‘Cause baby I cried a little too hard
A little too long
What I thought was right
Was way too wrong
And too far gone
I can’t bring back the love
There just ain’t enough
Available,impossible,unsaveable

Love
There’s someone out there for me
Who thinks I’m beautiful
I’ve got to go

‘Cause baby I cried a little too hard
A little too long
What I thought was right
Was way too wrong
And too far gone
I can’t bring back the love
There just ain’t enough
Available,impossible,unsaveable

Life is fragile and so are we. That’s what came to my mind yesterday, while I was walking home from work. I know I may sound like a paranoid person after making such statement, but that’s how I left the office yesterday.

Let me explain, a middle aged lady came to the office yesterday morning. She’d lead a tough life, a life that could’ve been written for a soap opera or a novel (I might get some ideas from here…), but anyway, her life has not been easy at all. I’m not going to talk about the details of her past, even though she insists on wanting them published in our newspaper, but I don’t think I’m the one to talk about her issues, especially on my blog.

But the fact is that she’s gone through so many things over the past two decades that she reached the conclusion it was better to end the agony by dying. She would’ve achieved her goal if it weren’t because the distance between the bridge that goes above the railway in my city and the ground is not big enough. We can all see the sequels of that attempt of taking her life away. She needs clatches to walk, probably because she broke her hips. That’s the physical damage she’s caused herself, the one we can see, but the psychological one goes deep inside her and this type of damage never heals. It remains inside you forever.

I left the office and I couldn’t help but wonder and think about life, about how fragile it is and how fragile we are. Life is short and I sometimes get the feeling we spend our time “filling” those moments with banalities. I noticed I often make a huge ball out of a small problem, but I also realized that in those little problems that do not let me sleep at night my fragility is revealed.

I try to show strength and I am a strong woman, but sometimes, those walls you’ve built over the years, seems to tumble down with the slightest wind. And that’s how I collapsed last Monday when, after not being able to digest all the things going on in my life, I had to sit down in the middle of the street not to faint.

Life is fragile, it’s a delicate glass that could break anytime. That’s why, I believe it’s important to find some sort of balance inside you. Once that strength is well established inside you, the outside will be strong as well.

 

Sunset in Getaria

I was probably the only person from Hondarribia, my hometown, that did not see the parade yesterday. And if I’m honest, I didn’t really miss not seeing it… I worked in the morning and I met up with Javi, a friend of mine, in the afternoon/evening. We went to Zarautz to the Photomuseum and then to its neighbor village, Getaria. Turns out, I’ve come to realize after 23 years of life that we do have real treasures around here. Thanks, Javi .